The Abbott government’s sudden decision to close the long-standing International Legal Services Advisory Council (ILSAC) was a surprising move that came without consultation, former chairman
Tim Bugg
says.

News trickled out in early November of the government’s decision to scrap ILSAC and several other bodies as an efficiency measure. Mr Bugg was left to find out through media reports, even though his term had recently been renewed for a further three years. None of ILSAC’s members had been consulted before the decision was made.

“I was surprised to first learn of it the way I did, particularly because there had been no consultation whatsoever with any of the members of ILSAC immediately before its abolition," Mr Bugg said.

ILSAC was established in 1990 under Sir Laurence Street, QC, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of NSW, to improve the international performance of Australia’s legal services.

It provided an important link between the private and public sector, and had a brief to advise government on policy and help engage the private sector on foreign legal market growth opportunities.

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Mr Bugg said the scrapping of ILSAC was surprising given “the government made it very clear that, in the words of the Prime Minister, Australia was going to be open for business."

ILSAC had been frequently consulted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade over the legal aspects of free-trade agreements, including most recently the proposed agreement with China, he said.

The federal Attorney-General’s Department belatedly updated ILSAC’s website to explain that “following the Australian government’s announcement on November 8, 2013 to abolish or rationalise a number of non-statutory bodies, [ILSAC] will close".

“The closure of this group is a whole-of-government decision that was taken to simplify and streamline the business of government," it said.

Supporters of ILSAC are mystified at the decision, given the body operated at low cost and its members worked as volunteers. The most recent council included Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s John Denton, Minter Ellison’s Russell Miller, Ashurst’s Mary Padbury, Clayton Utz’s Stuart Clark, Slater & Gordon’s Andrew Grech, Allens’ Tim Lester and Herbert Smith Freehills’ Bronwyn Lincoln. None of these people charged a fee for their service.

Asked how much money the closure would save government each year, federal Attorney-General
George Brandis
’s spokesman said: “The decision to close several non-statutory bodies was taken to simplify and streamline government’s operations. ILSAC members were not remunerated for their time".

Mr Bugg said ILSAC had few staff and while the Attorney-General’s Department paid for its travel expenses, he had been on only three overseas trips in the past four years. The most recent was to India in May this year to discuss opening that market to foreign lawyers.

ILSAC’s work could be picked up by bodies such as the Law Council of Australia, the Council of Australian Law Deans or international arbitration groups. Senator Brandis’s spokesman said: “ILSAC has left the legal sector’s peak bodies well placed to continue prosecuting the profession’s interests both domestically and overseas.

“The department will continue to liaise with the legal sector’s peak bodies with respect to the priorities of government and on issues of concern to the profession."